Objectives: Psychosomatic symptoms often present within the vocational context. The unmet need for easily accessible and early interventions led to the development of a variety of offers in this area. From a scientific point of view, the question of how such a "psychosomatic consultation in the workplace" (PCIW) is best conceptualized remains open.
Methods: We analysed treatment documentation for all patients of two recently established PCIW from January 2011 to January 2012 both descriptively and by qualitative content analysis.
Results: A total of 67 patients were seen, 75% of whom were male. For 75% of users PCIW constituted the first contact with psychosomatic-psychotherapeutic-psychiatric services. For about 80%of the patients a work-related aetiology could be considered. 40%of patients were recommended to outpatient psychotherapeutic care.
Conclusions: PCIW represents an easily accessible therapeutic offer in the vocational context. There often is a mix of work-related and personal problems that suggests the cooperation of occupational and psychosomatic physicians.